The present invention is in the field of computer-aided sales and advertising and has particular application to software applications for interacting with and configuring knowledge bases presented on a wide area network (WAN) via a remote computer or shared network connection.
Computer-aided sales presentations wherein rules-based configurators are employed have long been a valuable tool for allowing a customer or client to configure his or her own order of a product or products. This technique is employed in a network environment whereby a client configures his or her order and sends it over the Internet, or another type of network, to a seller which can fill the order. For example, a complex computer system has many different features, accessories, options, etc. With the appropriate software program, a client can configure his or her own custom order for a particular brand or type of system. By employing an interactive method a client can apply certain desired features in his product-order configuration that were chosen from options provided by a seller.
More recently, it is known to the inventor that object-oriented, constraint-based configurators have begun to replace rules-based configurators by virtue of their more flexible organization. For example, rules-based configurators rely on set rules that are programmed in a procedural computer language. Partly for this reason, every change in the merchandise offered may require substantial changes in the software, which can be quite a lot of work, considering the fast pace of trade today.
Rules-based configurators are not physically separated from the actual knowledge data and the application for manipulating the knowledge data. Knowledge base configurators known to the inventor have such separation (an applet) therefore, the knowledge base can be changed easily via an editing process. The knowledge base applies the changes via linking to other elements of the process such as the object model.
Generally speaking, an object model representing a product, such as a new automobile, is created using a programming language within a model building application at the sellers end. This object model contains all of the descriptive elements and various features including cost information about the object it represents. A model writer procedure then writes a binary file, which is readable only to applications written in the same environment.
These object models can then be presented to a client having the appropriate software application on the correct platform and using the required language. The client can then enter his desired choices or options via interactive software. A configurator commonly known as a run-time engine insures that the client""s choices are applied correctly. The configurator is also adapted to negate any conflict or impossibility that may arise from the client""s directives.
A difficulty with the current state of the art, which has hampered fast deployment of knowledge bases severely, is that although a knowledge base is superior to a rules base as described above, the knowledge base is language-dependent and not easily transferred across different platforms (i.e. IBM to Macintosh, or even Win 3.1 vs. Win 95). For example, a client would be required to operate in the same computer platform and language to be able to interactively configure his desired purchase. This is a serious problem because it severely limits the targeted on-line community that a seller may reach.
A knowledge base configuration process known to the inventor and described with reference to the priority application to this CIP application as listed under the Cross-Reference to related documents section above, effectively solves the above described problem related to language and platform dependency. However, clients interacting with model-presenting companies must download both the knowledge base and the knowledge base configuration software in order to configure a product to hopefully reflect the desired specifications and features which are offered.
A unique interaction topology for the network application described above is taught later in this specification with reference to FIG. 2. The advantage of this technique is that configuration is comparatively swift because it is done locally (client side). A drawback is the requirement for downloading the knowledge base and any updates that may be required including updates to the applet that configures the knowledge base.
It is desired by many clients who buy interactively over a WAN via the use of knowledge bases, that software downloading be kept to a minimum, as it is time consuming and uses otherwise available computer memory. Moreover, since the first application communication speed for WAN systems like the Internet has improved dramatically. What is clearly needed is an executable interface that would allow a client to configure a knowledge base and transact an order with the company without being required to download the knowledge base or software to configure the knowledge base.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for configuring a knowledge-based object model located at a server platform from a client platform via a data network is provided, comprising steps of (a) providing the object model and a configurator at the server platform; (b) transporting, from the server platform to the client platform, a GUI user-interface application capable of manipulating the configurator over the data network; and (c) invoking the GUI user-interface application at the client platform by a client, and using the GUI user-interface application to configure the object model at the server from the client platform. In some embodiments the GUI user-interface application is a Java-based applet. Also, the server platform may be a first Internet-connected computer and the client platform is a second Internet-connected computer. The GUI user-interface application may also be a WEB-browser plug-in in some embodiments. In many cases the client platform connects to the Internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP), the server platform is hosted by an enterprise, and the client uses the downloaded GUI user-interface application to configure the object model to select and order a product or service offered by the enterprise.
In another aspect of the invention a system for selling products and services from a computerized server in a wide area network is provided, comprising a knowledge base stored at or accessible to the server; a configurator executable at the server platform to configure the knowledge base; and a GUI user-interface application capable of manipulating the configurator over the data network, executable on a client platform connected to the server platform by a data link. In this embodiment a client uses the GUI user-interface application over the data link to manipulate the configurator to configure the knowledge base.
Also in this embodiment of a system, the GUI user-interface application may be a Java-based applet. The server platform can be a first Internet-connected computer and the client platform a second Internetconnected computer, in which case the GUI user-interface application may be a WEB browser plug-in. Preferably the client platform connects to the Internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Typically server platform is hosted by an enterprise, and the client uses the downloaded GUI user-interface application to configure the object model to select and order a product or service offered by the enterprise.